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Testimony Resumes in Combs Trial; Trump Faces Challenges at the G-7; Greene Slams Fake MAGA Republicans; Oil Surge Eases Amid Strikes; Deliberations Resume in Karen Read Trial. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 16, 2025 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[08:31:28]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, very shortly, testimony resumes in the sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Combs. Prosecutors say they have five witnesses left, including one of Combs' former assistants. Friday wrapped up with a different assistant, Jonathan Perez, on the stand. He testified he got drugs from Combs -- for Combs a handful of times and set up rooms for so-called "king nights," which he describes as Combs having private time with a female in a hotel room. During cross-examination, Perez told the court that Combs' former girlfriend and alleged victim, known as Jane, who spent six days on the stand, seemed like a willing participant, those were his words on the stand, in the "king nights."

CNN's Kara Scannell, outside the court in New York.

So, how much more can we expect, Kara?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

This is the final week of the prosecution's case. They said they do expect to rest their case either Wednesday or Friday. And they have those five witnesses left. Three of them are what they call summary witnesses. Those are going to be people that help the prosecution connect the dots for the jury. They will tie text messages to hotel invoices to create a timeline of events on various stages of this. They're going to use three different witnesses for that. One person is expected to focus entirely on the Intercontinental Hotel. That's the surveillance footage where Combs is seen kicking and dragging Ventura and is part of the sex trafficking charge involving her.

Now, they also are expected to call another law enforcement official, as well as the former personal assistant. His name is Brendan Paul. He is someone who worked for Combs up until the homes were searched. He himself was charged on a drug charge at the time when he was with Combs at the time of the search of the hotel -- of his home and on his person. Now, he is one of about more than half a dozen people who have worked for Combs, who have testified during this trial. And his testimony, according to prosecutors, is also expected to focus on his role in helping set up these hotel nights that are at the center of the case. Now, his testimony is -- is expected to take place. He's the third one

in line. So, it could be today. It could be tomorrow.

Another thing we're looking for today is, does Kanye West make a return? He showed up at court for all of 20 minutes on Friday. There were talk on Friday that he could try to come back today. He told reporters he was coming to support Combs. Combs, of course, in his -- in his rows has his family members there. His sister is there almost every day. And his mother has been there for most of this trial.

John.

BERMAN: So, Kara, the judge is considering dismissing a juror now. Why? And what would the implications of that be?

SCANNELL: Yes, this -- questions arose about this one juror who, during jury selection, said he lived in the Bronx and then casually had mentioned to a member of the court staff that he was living in New Jersey. So, there has been some questioning in private, by the judge and the parties of this juror to understand where he actually lives.

Part of this has to do with the jurisdiction, but part of it is also about truthfulness and candor. And so, after a bunch of questioning on this, the judge said that he thought that this was a pretty straightforward question. There were inconsistencies in the statement. And he believed that he was going to dismiss the juror. He said on Friday, "the changing answers and inconsistency give the court worry about deception and lying." And he also said that some of the answers he'd given in person may have shaded his answers to try to stay on the jury.

Now, Combs' team is opposing this. They say if the juror is dismissed they're going to move yet again for a mistrial.

John.

[08:35:01]

BERMAN: All right, Kara Scannell for us outside the courthouse. Another busy day there for sure.

All right, happening now, crews are searching for several missing people after severe storms led to major flooding in West Virginia. At least five people confirmed dead there.

And every museum's nightmare caught on camera. A pair of tourists seen breaking a crystal-studded art piece at a museum.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Today, President Trump is in Canada for the G-7 summit with huge implications on things like trade deals, but also a brewing war. This could be extremely fraught, with some U.S. allies wondering if Donald Trump is with them or against them. All the while the G-7 nations grappling with the threat of the potential of an all- out war in the Middle East. CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten with me right now.

All right, with so many things that are sort of heavily weighing over this summit, what are you learning about what the people of these countries think about Donald Trump and whether he is with or against them?

[08:40:08]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I think that this title slide says it all, why Trump faces a tough room at the G-7. That is because the countries outside the U.S. who are a part of the G-7, those folks, not big fans of Donald Trump. Not big fans at all. No confidence Trump will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs, look at this, all these numbers are at least at 60 percent or above. You can start off here at the bottom, Japan, 61, the U.K., 62. You go to that next row, Italy, 68. We're getting higher and higher and higher. Canada, 77. And finally, France, 78 percent. And Germany, 81 percent of Germans have no confidence that Donald Trump will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. We're looking at a super majority in all six of these G-7 countries, besides the U.S. They do not like Donald Trump. They have no confidence in him to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. And I think that will inform some of the leaders there in those countries going into this G-7 summit with Donald Trump. And again, he's just going to face a tough room because those folks in those countries, they don't really like Donald Trump.

SIDNER: How much has this changed since Trump was elected?

ENTEN: Yes. This is, I think, you'd see all these numbers here and you go, OK, has this always been the case that there's been so low -- such low confidence in the U.S. leader?

SIDNER: Animosity, yes.

ENTEN: Take a look here. OK, no confidence that the U.S. president will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. We're going to look at a median of those six countries that we just saw on the other side. You see it here. In 2025, 73 percent. The median in those countries have no confidence that Donald Trump will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs.

With Joe Biden, look how much lower that number was. It was basically 50/50 at 51 percent. So, the percentage of those G-7 countries that have no confidence that Donald Trump will do the right thing has gone completely through the roof. We're talking about a 22-point jump in just a year's time. Rough room, tough room for Donald Trump.

SIDNER: Tough room, even with one of our closest allies, both by land and by culture, Canada. Do they want even a Trump -- a deal with Trump?

ENTEN: Yes, this, to me, is the number that kind of says it all, right? We're talking about allies of the United States here. No ally has been closer to us over the years than Canada has been. SIDNER: Wow.

ENTEN: But Canadians are reducing reliance on the U.S. as a trade partner. Look at this, 91 percent say that, yes, that they, in fact, we -- that Canadians should, in fact, reduce reliance on the U.S. as a trade partner. You never see numbers that high. I'm laughing because it's just unprecedented. Compared to just 9 percent who disagree. Nine percent. That's about the percentage of Americans who believe we faked the moon landing. When you're in this territory, you know that we're in a lot of trouble. Donald Trump's in a lot of trouble when it comes to Canadian's views on him.

SIDNER: He has an unprecedented number in any poll, anywhere, anytime.

ENTEN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican, suggesting she is not eager for U.S. involvement in Israel's attacks on Iran. She wrote, quote, "anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel-Iran war is not America first/MAGA. Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We're sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them."

With us now, former White House spokesperson under President George W. Bush. Pete Seat. Also here, Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for Al Gore's presidential campaign, Christy Setzer.

And, Pete, you know, there is some division in the Republican Party when it comes to support -- full support or active support for Israel against Iran. What do you think of that?

PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Dissent within a political party is common. And dissent on this particular topic is inevitable because you do have an element of the MAGA base, particularly the influencer class, which I would put Marjorie Taylor Greene in that bucket, that believes we should be isolationist. They prefer isolationism over engagement.

And to be very clear, isolationism versus intervention is a false choice. You can be engaged without being an interventionist. And a lot of these folks, maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene, is not part of this group, but the influencers and those they influence have not read intelligence briefings. They've not been in the Situation Room. They don't really grasp the burden of leadership and the responsibility that comes with it.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, Christy, because I just had Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon on. And this is one of the few times there's some intersection in the Venn diagram here between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Merkley. He doesn't want to see any further U.S. involvement or direct support for Israel in its attacks on Iran. Where do you think most Democrats will come down here?

CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, that's right. Well, I am a little horrified to hear Marjorie Taylor Greene as someone of the influencer class. I'm also a little horrified to know that there are some pieces that I may agree with her on as well.

Look, the -- I think what it comes down to is that Donald Trump is a deeply unserious president, including and especially on issues of foreign policy and the U.S. military.

[08:45:09]

Look no further than this weekend when tensions were brewing between Israel and Iran and all of the top people in our sort of military, foreign policy, defense apparatus were at Donald Trump's military birthday parade, stuck for hours at his $100 million parade to feed his own ego. So, I think that there is some real fear, right, that he doesn't know what he's doing.

I will give one other point, which is that in 2018 Donald Trump took us out of the Iran nuclear deal that Barack Obama had set up. So, what do they want right now? They want a nuclear deal with Iran. You had one. You -- you and Netanyahu took us out of it, right? There are real reasons that people should be afraid that Donald Trump has no idea what he is doing right now. And these tensions within his own party, people like Lindsey Graham, who were saying, game on, war with Iran, yay, versus other parts of the party, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who are saying, absolutely not. This actually doesn't help matters because he doesn't know there are two wolves inside him and he doesn't know which one to listen to.

BERMAN: Pete, I want to ask you about immigration quickly, if I can, because on Friday President Trump, who made it his mission to deport all immigrants in the United States who were here illegally, basically seemed to carve out an exception for people who works in farms, restaurants and hotels. That was Friday. Today, he said he's going to increase deportations in cities that are run by Democrats. But this idea of those carveouts, what do you think the messaging is there?

SEAT: Oh, how quickly we forget, John, that it was in April that President Trump at a cabinet meeting, mused aloud about changes to the guest worker program. He acknowledged then that we needed to make changes to the program so that undocumented workers, those who are here illegally working in the agricultural or hospitality industries, had a way to work legally. And what he said then was, perhaps they could leave the country temporarily and then come back legally, as long as an employer vouched for them and said that that employee was needed in order to ensure that they could do -- do the work of the company, the work on the farm.

So, this is not some -- some sudden about face on the part of President Trump. He's been talking about this for several months, that we need to make changes to that program. And I think this is just the first step in that direction.

BERMAN: Christy, I do want to ask you, because we talked about dissension in the Republican ranks when it came to Marjorie Taylor Greene, some dissention in the Democratic ranks. You had Randi Weingarten, head of a -- of a big teacher's union, and Lee Saunders, head of a municipal union, leave their leadership roles in the DNC over the weekend.

SETZER: Yes.

BERMAN: Randi Weingarten wrote, "while I'm proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging." This she wrote to the DNC chair, Ken Martin. "And I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we're not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities."

What's going on here?

SETZER: Yes, it's interesting. So, I think that right now the Democratic Party is having very intense and healthy conversations about not just the future of the Democratic Party, but what are some of the best ways to take on Republicans in the midterms, to take on Donald Trump from -- now through 2028? And one of the conversations is about whether we need to primary current elected leaders, because they're not fighting hard enough, because they've been in power for too long, maybe because they've gotten too old. These are positions that were espoused both by David Hogg, who's the vice chair of the DNC until he was ousted, and by people like Randi Weingarten.

And frankly, it's an argument that I'm really sympathetic to. And also, I would say, again, this is just me personally speaking, but that if you are leading the DNC, that's actually not your job to primary sitting elected members, right? That said, this is a really understandable and healthy conversation I think that they're having.

BERMAN: I do wonder if they feel quite as healthy as you make it seem right now inside the DNC headquarters.

Pete Seat, Christy Setzer, great to see both of you this morning. Thank you very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, new this morning, oil prices, as you might imagine, they surged over the weekend as a new wave of strikes between Israel and Iran deepen. Prices have eased a bit this morning, but the conflict has stoked fears about oil export disruption from the region, particularly the flow of oil from the Strait of Hormuz, the most critical chokepoint for oil supplies on the planet.

CNN's Matt Egan has more on this.

This is a big concern to a lot of people. Despite the carnage, despite all of the things going on in both Israel and Iran, this will also affect the entire globe.

[08:50:07]

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Sara, that's right. And look, the conflict escalated over the weekend, spreading to energy infrastructure. And yet the oil market is eerily calm this morning, as you can see on your screen, starting the week off solidly in the red with brent crude tumbling 2 percent and WTI, the U.S. benchmark, also falling 2 percent.

Now, this comes, of course, after oil prices skyrocketed last week, surging 13 percent. The most in any week since October of 2022. That, of course, was triggered by these concerns that this Israel-Iran conflict could end up disrupting energy supplies from the Middle East, where roughly half of the world's oil reserves are located.

But this morning, perhaps investors are relieved that sources have told CNN that President Trump rejected Israeli plans to kill Iran's supreme leader, and that Trump has argued a deal is possible. Still, it did not take long at all in this conflict for energy infrastructure to get targeted, including natural gas facilities over the weekend, oil depots and refineries.

RBC analyst Helima Croft, she told clients that, "energy is now clearly in the crosshairs of the Israel-Iran conflict, and we see the risk of a serious supply outage increasing significantly in an extended war scenario."

Now, Croft warned that if Iranian leadership becomes convinced that Israel is going for regime change, then Tehran could go into survival mode and start attacking regional facilities. And the big fear, as you mentioned, Sara, is that there could be a disruption to the flow out of the Strait of Hormuz, that pivotal waterway that links the oil rich Persian Gulf to the world's oceans. Analysts think that any sustained disruption there is unlikely because it would really alienate Iran and it would force a U.S. response.

One last point, though, here is gas prices. GasBuddy projecting that we could see an increase in the price of gasoline between $0.10 and $0.25 a gallon over the coming days and weeks. But they're projecting that we're not going to get anywhere close to those record highs that we saw three years ago. But as you can see, gas prices are already starting to creep higher.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Matt Egan, thank you for your reporting on all of this, this morning.

Still ahead, drones, helicopters and 20 SWAT teams. New details on the simple device that was key in capturing the man accused of killing a lawmaker and her spouse and shooting another lawmaker and his spouse. What more we could learn today in court.

Plus, next hour, a high-profile murder case back in the jury's hands. Karen Read, accused of killing her police officer boyfriend, then leaving him to die in the snow. Will there be a verdict today?

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[08:57:16] BERMAN: This morning, at least five people are dead, four others missing after flash floods hit West Virginia. Four inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes. It triggered widespread destruction and then rescues and evacuations. A state of emergency is in effect, with officials urging people to stay off the roads. Amazing pictures.

In western India, at least two people are dead and dozens more injured after an iron bridge collapsed at a popular tourist spot. That collapse came after days of heavy rain in the area.

So, a museum in Italy is asking visitors to respect art after a man decided to have a seat on a priceless crystal encrusted chair, and the chair broke. Security video shows the couple taking pictures with the chair. When the man fell back and broke it -- you just saw it. Wow. Yikes. The museum says the two left without notifying staff of what happened. The artist, fortunately, was able to restore the chair, which was inspired by a Van Gogh painting and covered by hundreds of priceless crystals.

I mean it looks so comfortable. I guess I understand what the guy was doing.

SIDNER: Do you though?

BERMAN: Yes, I mean --

SIDNER: You would never do that, John. Come on.

BERMAN: I mean -- well, I don't know. I mean I have my own crystal chair. I don't need to sit in the -- you know, one in a museum.

SIDNER: I know, it's -- it's back there. You're the one with the sparkly chair. I have the plain stool.

BERMAN: Exactly. The sparkly chair back stage is mine, next to my tiara.

SIDNER: Good times.

BERMAN: All right.

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

All right -- all right, moments from now, jurors in that high-profile retrial of Karen Read will reconvene for their first full day of deliberations. New video showing Read arriving at court moments ago. Both the defense and prosecution rested Friday after delivering lengthy closing arguments.

Reid is standing trial, as you know, for a second time on charges in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe. Prosecutors say she was drunk when she backed into O'Keefe with her SUV and then left him to die in the snow. The defense is claiming that Read is the victim of a massive coverup and painted the investigation as biased and flawed.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following every detail of this trial. The first one and now this one.

Jean, you were outside of court. What can you tell us this morning? What are you expecting?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you so much because this is going to be the first full day of deliberations for this jury. Massive crowd out here. I'm going to show you in just a second.

But first of all, when I arrived yesterday here in Massachusetts, we've seen pictures -- so many pictures of the house, of the area where the prosecution is -- is saying that John O'Keefe lay to rest after that hit by Karen Read.

[09:00:01]

Defense saying he walked into the house. I wanted to see it for myself. So, I went out there to 34 Fairview. I want to show you the pictures that I shot.